Friday 21 December 2018 16:45, UK
Roy Hodgson has dismissed Crystal Palace's clash with Manchester City as being a "free hit" and believes it's far from "impossible" they can pick up points.
Palace travel to the Etihad on Saturday facing the prospect of a City side yet to drop a point at home and sitting second in the table.
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Hodgson, however, said that a result is not out of the question: "I don't make much of it [free hit]; it's one of the 38 games we know we've got to play and one of the tougher ones playing against such a good team.
"When you analyse what they're capable of and what they've been doing, trying to come up with the right answers [to playing Manchester City] is anything other than a free hit.
"This is another an opportunity for us to go and show we are a good Premier League team and a chance to get points, it won't be easy but it's far from impossible."
The fixture last year ended 5-0 to the home side, but the reverse match at Selhurst Park may offer some hope to the Palace manager:
"When they came here around this time we actually managed a 0-0 draw and even gave them the free hit of missing a penalty in the last minute which was extremely generous of us," he said
"The day it becomes impossible for teams like Palace to get results against City, the league might as well just fold up and we'll do everything on paper."
Cheikhou Kouyate may feature after picking up a knock against Leicester, with Hodgson confirming Martin Kelly and Wayne Hennessey are not available.
Christian Benteke is also out with a long-term injury and the former England manager said he understood why Palace were continually linked to strikers, with the latest being Chelsea's Tammy Abraham.
Hodgson said: "It is understandable that because we haven't scored a lot of goals, every goalscorer that may or may not be available is going to be linked with clubs like ourselves.
"Not just ourselves, the Cardiffs, the Huddersfields, and the Burnleys I'm sure will be in a similar position because they haven't scored a lot of goals either."
